Patti LuPone, Scott Joplin’s ‘Treemonisha’ and a new Canadian opera highlight TO Live programming

Patti LuPone, the legendary Broadway actor who nabbed her third Tony Award this spring for her powerhouse turn in Stephen Sondheim’s “Company,” is returning to Toronto next year with “Don’t Monkey With Broadway.”

Her tell-all solo concert, slated to play Meridian Hall on April 22, is one of 15 shows announced Tuesday as part of TO Live’s programming for the first half of next year. Featuring a mix of dance, opera and musical performances, the season will be presented across the city’s three major civic arts venues: St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Meridian Arts Centre and Meridian Hall.

The season opens with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at Meridian Hall on Feb. 3 and 4. The ensemble, which promotes the African-American cultural experience and modern American dance, was designated in 2008 by the U.S. Congress as “a vital American cultural ambassador to the world.”

In March, TO Live will join forces with Tapestry Opera and Obsidian Theatre to mount “Of the Sea,” a mythical new Canadian opera about a group of African slaves who are thrown overboard while crossing the Atlantic Ocean and now live in underwater kingdoms that dot the sea floor. Written by Kanika Ambrose, composed by Ian Cusson and directed by Philip Akin, the world premiere production will play the Bluma Appel Theatre March 25 to April 1.

Closing out the programming for the first half of 2023 is “Treemonisha,” the sole surviving opera by American ragtime composer Scott Joplin. The production, co-presented by TO Live and the Luminato Festival, is the opera’s Canadian premiere and will be helmed by Soulpepper’s artistic director, Weyni Mengesha, marking her opera directorial debut.

And in yet another first, the production will be conducted by Panamanian-American Kalena Bovell, the first Black woman to conduct an opera in Canadian opera history. “Treemonisha” will run from June 6 to 17 at the Bluma Appel.

Other artists and groups set to appear on TO Live stages next year include the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Arturo Sandoval Sextet, Christian McBride, Celeigh Cardinal, Logan Staats and the Stephanie Lake Company.

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